Articles by Omar Sacirbey

c. 2012 Religion News Service
(RNS) Against a backdrop of heartland fears that U.S. Muslims seek to
impose Islamic law on American courts, a leading Muslim group will launch a
campaign on Monday (March 5) to dispel what it called misconceptions about
Shariah.

c. 2012 Religion News Service
(RNS) FBI officials say they are willing to consider a proposal from a
coalition of Muslim and interfaith groups to establish a committee of experts
to review materials used in FBI anti-terrorism training.

c. 2012 Religion News Service
(RNS) North American Muslims are more than satisfied with the secular legal system and do not want a set of parallel courts for Islamic law, according to a new study of U.S. and Canadian Muslims by a Washington-based think tank.

The outrage over a video allegedly showing U.S. marines urinating on
dead Taliban fighters provided Americans with a disturbing reminder that
war can reduce men to revenge-seeking brutality that defies human
norms.

Oklahoma's referendum barring judges from considering Islamic law is
unconstitutional, the Tenth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled,
upholding a lower court ruling that had blocked the measure. The appeals
court ruling could affect more than 20 other states where laws against
Shari'a are contemplated.

A recent spate of campus controversies involving professors who made
provocative statements about Muslims shows one of two things: a
decreasing tolerance for inflammatory speech, or how easy it is for
academics to get into trouble. Or perhaps a little bit of both.

c. 2011 Religion News Service
LUEBECK, Germany (RNS) Yelizaveta Paliy arrived in this northern port city from Ukraine in 1995 on the second day of Hanukkah. After years of celebrating the Jewish festival of lights behind drawn curtains in her homeland, Paliy went to Luebeck's historic synagogue and lit the candles in freedom for the first time.

c. 2011 Religion News Service
(RNS) The cast and producers of "All-American Muslim," a reality-TV show that has been a lightning rod for controversy, said Wednesday (Dec. 14) they are helping change negative perceptions of Muslims, and rejected criticisms that the show is propaganda that sugarcoats Islam.

(RNS) Gay and Muslim groups say they are relieved after a Michigan lawmaker agreed to drop a provision in an anti-bullying bill that would have carved out an exemption for religious or moral beliefs.
State Sen. Rick Jones, a Republican, inserted a carve-out for a "sincerely held religious belief or moral conviction" in the Senate version of the bill.

(RNS) Reports last month that Iran plotted to assassinate Saudi Arabia's ambassador to the U.S. have enflamed animosity between the two Muslim powers, and raised concerns that violence could mar this year's hajj pilgrimage that starts on Friday (Nov. 4).

(RNS) A Muslim civil rights group is accusing the FBI and other federal agencies of “bad policing” and flaunting the Constitution in a 56-page report released to mark the 10th anniversary of the Patriot Act.

(RNS) Radical American-born cleric Anwar al-Awlaki may be dead, but the
power of the Internet means he won't soon be forgotten. And that,
experts say, could make him just as dangerous dead as he was alive.

(RNS) An amendment to Oklahoma's constitution that bans state judges
from considering Islamic law will face its next legal hurdle on Monday
(Sept. 12) when a federal appeals court considers its constitutionality.

A small number of conservative foundations are propelling a handful
of anti-Islamic activists who are fueling rising levels of
Islamo­phobia, according to a report issued by the left-leaning Center
for American Progress.

(RNS) After all the books, speeches, seminars, Facebook posts and mosque
open houses to teach Americans about Islam in the wake of 9/11,
Americans say they now know more about Islam than they did 10 years ago.
The problem, pollsters say, is that Americans don't seem to like
what they're learning.